Successfully I finished the first stage of the Jungle Marathon. It felt amazing and I was proud!
We started not too early, 7:30am on the dot. The focus on the first day was on hills, hills and hills. Everyone tried to pace themselves as it was very hard to climb up and especially down those steep hills. It was also quite challenging to walk fast as the terrain was very unstable because the ground was full of leaves and mostly small wood sticks or holes underneath. I was not able to see how uneven it was so I took my time to take care not to twist my ankle on the first day.
Up the hills I needed to stop a few times as it was that exhausting, but I took the opportunity to take pictures. In the beginning I walked together with my friends from my gym but after the second checkpoint I kept on going by myself. The hills were killing me and I met other competitors who were struggling as well. I searched for a stick to support me climbing up the hills and downhill I decided to sit on my bottom and slide down. Shirley recommended that to me. It was just too steep and too dangerous to fall down with the heavy backpack on my shoulder.
Oh it was so beautiful and the sound of the Jungle … Amazing!
Slighting downhill… auaaaah!
Burning tree I had to jump over.
Wearing snake gaiters on the first day. Removed them afterwards as it was too hot an all snakes scarred away.
When it was flat I ran and so I managed to come to the finish line as 5th last on that day.
My feet looked still great with no blisters at all. But I had a allergic reaction maybe because of my running tights which I soaked in mosquito repellent. On top I was wearing gaiters and snake guards. The heat and the mosquito repellent made it look very red and it burned when I touched it. Better than having blisters I thought and was already excited about the next day.